Assistant Manager - Oil Palm Nursery

About the role

A client's fast-growing, Nigeria-based agri-allied group is hiring an Assistant Nursery Manager for its expanding oil palm plantation, which is moving from 5,000 to 25,000 planted hectares. The role owns end-to-end seedling production, from seed receipt and germination through pre-nursery and main nursery to dispatch of field-ready seedlings, ensuring planting material is available on time, at the right quality and cost. It sits within the Operations department, reporting functionally to the Plantation Manager / Head of Agronomy and administratively to the General Manager.

Key responsibilities

• Produce seedlings in line with the planting programme, supporting a pipeline of 400,000-480,000 seedlings per year
• Prepare and run daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly nursery plans, and forecast seedling requirements
• Manage nursery operations from seed receipt and germination through transplanting, irrigation, fertilisation and hardening
• Monitor germination, survival and plantable seedling rates, and run effective pest, disease and weed control
• Control inventory of seeds, fertilisers, chemicals, tools and consumables, and manage cost per seedling
• Supervise and allocate the nursery team, identify training needs and maintain accurate records and reports
• Maintain irrigation systems, pumps, water supply networks, structures and equipment, with preventive maintenance
• Implement continuous improvement (TQM, TPM) and keep full HSE compliance, targeting zero lost-time incidents

Required profile

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Plantation Management, Agronomy, Forestry or a related discipline
• At least 5 years of post-qualification experience in oil palm nursery management, including 3 years in a supervisory or higher role
• Willingness to relocate and work in Nigeria

Required skills

• Nursery operations: pre-nursery and main nursery management, germination, transplanting, irrigation, fertilisation, pest/disease/weed control, seedling culling and hardening
• Planning, forecasting and inventory control
• People leadership and team supervision
• MS Office reporting and data analysis